Race against time
by BeautifulWonderland256
Summary: An alternate ending to the third OVA. Secrets lurk in the dark corners of everyone's pasts, filled with demons they try to hide. When Gray gets trapped in the past he learns that everyone has their sins and that some people's backgrounds may be shadier than he ever imagined. (Laxus X Gray)
1. Chapter 1: Lost in the past

**_Hello Everyone! Well, he's a new pairing I decided to try out that really isn't loved enough. It's a pity, really. Oh well. _**

**_Anyway, this is kind of a what if story that deals with the end of the OVA, memory days, which for the people who don't know what that is, it's when Lucy, Gray, Erza, Natsu and Happy accidentally cast a spell that gets them sent back to when they were kids. _**

**_For this story everything that happened in that Ova, which is the third one, I believe, called Memory days, except Gray didn't end up getting sent back to their present time with the others. Another slight change is I made it so he's a demon slayer for the sole reason that I can and because I absolutely love his new power up. It's about time he got one, after._**

**_Back on topic, just in case this isn't clear, this is a Laxus X Gray story and this chapter is just a test one. I want you guys opinions about whether I should continue it or not, personally I'm not too sure :P._**

**_Enjoy~_**

"Great, just great…" Gray groaned, pacing back and forth in the alley beside the guild, "Shit… This can't be happening… No way in hell..."

But it was and the ice mage was completely and utterly out of luck. Not that he necessarily had all that much luck throughout his lifetime. Quite honestly he mused that he shouldn't be surprised that he was the unlucky one. His life was just one big misfortune after the other.

However, this took things to the next level. He was completely and royally screwed.

He was trapped in the past.

He groaned again and leaned back against the wall, the white and blue jacket on his back, which for once he was actually still wearing, snagged on the jutting edges of the brick as he slumped down to the ground, his head falling to rest in his hands

He had missed going back with the others by mere seconds. Just a few short seconds. How the hell did he miss it? He was right there, damn it. Right along side the scarlet and blonde, yet somehow he was the only one not to make it. Now he was stuck in the past with absolutely no idea how to get back.

The others he came here with, Lucy, Erza, and the flamebrain, they all disappeared in that flash, no doubt having returned to the present… Well, the present for him. For everyone else around him it was the future, which honestly frightened him. He should be around eleven right now, not almost nineteen, well if you counted the seven years lost on Tenrou Island, almost twenty six. Not that that really meant anything to him. He was still stuck in a time he shouldn't have been in at all.

He was completely and utterly lost.

Pale fingers ran through the blonde wig on his head and, not for the first time that day, it took all his strength not to yank the damn thing off and freeze it. It itched his head like crazy and the white headband keeping it in place did nothing to help ease the pressure on his scalp. While he wanted nothing more than that, besides getting back to his time line that is, he knew he couldn't, just like he couldn't strip. If he did than someone would notice that he looked just like the present day eleven year old Gray Fullbuster, and that was something he just could not risk.

Irritably, the ice mage yanked the annoying jacket off, careful to leave the black undershirt on, and tied the garment around his waist. The black design labeling him as a demon slayer stood out against his pale skin, but he didn't care. In this timeline his younger self didn't have this marking yet, so he didn't have to worry about that giving away who he really was. In fact, he figured it may even help him seem different. People tended to stay away from guys with apparent tattoos.

Well, who cares; he sure didn't. It was a hot summer evening and he was certain that he was going to boil if he had to keep that damn thing on any longer.

Heaving a sigh, he forced himself to stand up again before stalking out of the alley. Dark was falling over Magnolia and he needed to find a place to stay for the night. Luckily he had remembered to bring his wallet with him when he was rummaging through books with his team, so he had quite a bit of cash on him.

But it would only last him for so long. After that he would have to find a way to make money while also looking for a way to get back. He thought about the possibility of taking a job, only to be met with the grim reminder that he was, technically, not a certified member of Fairy Tail at the moment.

Well… Yes, he was, or rather, his younger self was, but there was no way he could go in there and tell them about what happened without messing up the timeline.

He considered the option of rejoining Fairy Tail as a different person, but that didn't seem to fit right with him either. Could he really do that? Rejoin Fairy Tail and pretend as though he didn't know any of them or even himself?

Hell if he knew. Then again, it wasn't like he really had any other option. Having been raised by Ur, he hadn't gone to school after his village was destroyed and then after he joined Fairy Tail he just started taking missions for an income. He knew enough to get by and even be considered cunning, but he definitely was not qualified to hold any kind of job. Besides, any other place would want his ID and the only one he had on him was dated seven years in the future and the other one he could possibly get labeled him as an eleven year old. Either way, he wasn't going to have any luck.

He jammed his hands into his pockets and shook his head, stepping out of the alley and… Straight into someone.

He blinked and stumbled back, prepared to mutter a quick apology to the stranger when suddenly he stilled, his mouth forming a small 'o'.

There, glancing at him with an annoyed look, was Laxus, or, more specifically, a young Laxus.

"Watch where you're going." The blonde muttered, his arms crossing as he seemed to almost study the costumed Gray, "Why do you look so startled? You're the one that bumped into me."

"W-what?" Clearing his throat, the ice mage swallowed his surprise and shrugged slightly, pretending as though he had no idea what the other teen was talking about, "I mean, I'm not. Eh… Sorry, I wasn't paying attention…"

"Obviously." Black eyes looked at the slightly shorter teen with disinterest, that is, until they landed on the tattoo lining the creator mage's upper arm.

A slightly troubled look crossed the lightening slayer's face as he stared at the mark before he looked back up to meet the other blonde's eyes,

"What is that?"

"What? Oh.. It's… Ah…" He paused, "It's just a tattoo…"

His response was met with a distrustful look.

"You're a mage, aren't you? That mark proves that you are a wizard of some sort. What, are you here to join Fairy Tail or something?"

For some reason the ice mage suddenly felt self-conscious of the marking. Maybe letting others see it wasn't such a brilliant idea after all.

"Why do you think this is a wizard mark?" He tried to sound nonchalant, "There are such things as regular tattoos, you know."

"I'm not stupid, I can tell the difference between a normal tattoo and a wizard tattoo. I have one myself."

To the devil slayer's surprise, the head phoned teen actually lifted the bottom of his yellow and black shirt up so that the long series of black designs and the black Fairy Tail mark on his toned chest and abdomen were on show.

"Yours looks similar to mine." His eyes narrowed and he dropped the shirt back down, "Now, are you here to join Fairy Tail or are you an enemy, 'cause if you are the latter I'll dispose of you real quick."

"I'm not an enemy…" The raven muttered, his gaze lowering, "For now I'm just a free wizard…"

The fact that that was actually the truth made Gray's heart sink. Teen Gray in this time line had no friends, no family, no house and no life.

"So you are here to join then? Well we don't just take in anyone off the street you know."

It took all of the ice mage's self-control not to roll his eyes at the blonde's words. Even as a teen Laxus was obsessed with making sure Fairy Tail was a guild for only strong mages. Some people just didn't change.

"I never even said I wanted to join…" The creator magic mage muttered inwardly to himself, a hand coming up to absentmindedly rub the back of his head. How was he supposed to get out of this?

"Well, not that I wanted to join your guild or anything, but how would I get in?"

'Act normal Gray.' He mentally urged himself, 'act indifferent'.

"Show me what you can do. If you're weak you can't join, those are the rules."

Except it wasn't and the raven knew it, but he couldn't say anything about it without sounding suspicious.

"And how would I do that?"

Coal eyes flickered from the ice mage's face to his feet, seeming to almost check him out, silently determining his strength,

"Fight me. If you can last for five minutes without getting the crap beaten out of you, you can join Fairy Tail. Besides, with the day I've had I could use a punching bag."

* * *

><p>"I knew the ice princess was stupid, but not this stupid!"<p>

The pinkette mumbled, crossing his arms as he glanced around the guild, which seemed to be rather empty, though that wasn't much of a surprise. Most people were away on quests and the others who were in town were preparing to return home, ready to retire for the night.

Team Natsu, on the other hand, was faced with the dilemma of figuring out just where the hell the raven disappeared to.

"Could he have been brought to a different time?" Lucy inquired, purposely ignoring the complaining fire mage beside her.

Her question was met with a shake of the head,

"No, the spell casted was solely meant for that time period. I don't see any way it could have taken him to any other time besides this one..." The scarlet sighed and clamped her armored hands together, "It looks like he must have gotten stuck there... We have to find a way to get him back here before he can mess with the timeline, accidental or not."

"But how can we do that? The only way to get back was after Natsu remembered how he got his scar..."

"Just leave him there." The salamander helpfully offered.

"That's not nice, Natsu!" Happy piped up, walking along the table to stand beside his best friend's sitting form. "You know you'll miss having him around."

"Like hell I will... Psh, it'd be nice not to have that annoying ice block hanging around."

"You will miss him, because no matter how often you two fight you still likkkkkeeee each other."

"No way!"

Opting to just tune the now arguing cat and lizard out the two females spoke idly with one another, attempting to come up with ideas as to how to get their missing team mate back.

After nearly an hour with no progress the blonde groaned and sprawled back in her chair, on the verge of giving up. Time magic was foreign to them all and the idea of the spell they originally used working again was slim. They figured that even if they did attempt to use it again there was no guarantee that they would be brought back to the time in which they lost the raven.

Which meant they were completely out of ideas.

"Maybe Levy will know..."

Titania nodded,

"But I believe her and Gajeel just left to go on a mission... It will probably be several days before she returns..."

The slight hope that suddenly filled the blonde disappeared as swiftly as it came, causing her to feel deflated.

"Is there anyone else that could help...?"

Just as the red head opened her mouth to respond a familiar, friendly voice spoke up from beside the two, causing them both to glance up,

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I couldn't help but eavesdrop. Gray didn't come back with the three of you earlier?"  
>Lucy shook her head tiredly,<p>

"No, we haven't seen him since ."

"I don't really know much about time magic myself either," Mira admitted, shifting the tray of drinks in her hand slightly, "and the master is away on business, but I think Freed may know something about this. It may not be his main focus, but he's pretty well acquainted with all different kinds of magic and spells. Until Levy gets back he'll be your best bet."

Suddenly a smile brightened the celestial mage's face and she turned to look at Erza, who seemed to harvest a similar simper at the news,

"That's true, Mira, I didn't even think about that! But... er..." She looked around the bar, pausing. Near the front of the guild was Cana, Macao and Wakaba, who all seemed to be engaging in some sort of drinking competition, Jet and Droy were in the middle, complaining about how Levy left them behind, several other mages, whom she wasn't acquainted with, occupied a few other seats throughout the building and Laxus sat in the back, his arms crossed and an almost sour expression on his face. There was no sign of the Thunder Legion anywhere, and if they weren't near their leader, the blonde figured they weren't around the guild, "where is he...?"  
>The beautiful she-demon smiled sheepishly,<p>

"Actually, I haven't seen him all day." She looked over towards the lightening mage in the corner, "Laxus will probably know."

"He looks to be in a bad mood... One that's worse than usual..."  
>Lucy gulped and raised a hand to her face as she looked uncertainly over at the dragon slayer again. Everyone in Fairy Tail knew better than to mess with the Master's grandson, especially when he looked annoyed, like right now... "I don't want to ask him..."<br>"Oh come on, Luce, don't be so scared, I'll ask him!" Grinning, the salamander jumped up from his seat and whirled on his heel to face the oblivious S class mage.

"Yo, Sparky!"

Immediately the blonde male tensed, an eyebrow twitching as Laxus irritably turned to see the pinkette,

"What do you want, kid?"

"Where's that green haired friend of yours?! Fried, or something? We have to ask him something!"

A low snicker came from the wizard as he rolled his eyes and tore his gaze away from the group of wizards,

"How should I know? I haven't seem'em."

"Laxus..." The white haired waitress warned, her voice low as she narrowed her eyes at the agitated thunder mage, "We need his help to find Gray."

A hollow chuckle sounded from Laxus as he closed his eyes, a slight smirk marring his features,

"You haven't used that tone on me in a while, Mira, but I still don't see why that has anything to do with me. You need Freed? Fine, go find him and talk to him, I'm his leader, not his fucking babysitter."

Silence dwindled within the guild for a few moments, the dragon slayer's conversation managing to capture the attention of everyone in the guild now.

" We will just find him ourselves." Angrily, the reequip mage slammed her hands on the table, her scarlet eyes narrowed dangerously at the blonde male, "We'll get Gray back to our time without your help."

"Back to our time?" This caught the thunder wizard's attention, "What are you talking about?"  
>Huffing, the red head crossed her arms and glared at him, an act of defiance that very few people had the nerve to commit,<p>

"Earlier today Lucy, Natsu, Gray and I accidentally got sent back seven years in the past and when we finally managed to return Gray did not come back with us. We believe that he may have been left in the past and we require your teammate's help to get him back."

A look of disinterest passed by the S class mage's face before he suddenly stiffened, his expression changing to one of vague disbelief, however that too remained for only a moment,

"Did you just say seven years...?"

"Yeah, get your ears checked, blondie... Heh... Gray was a blonde today too." Natsu suddenly moaned, "But I didn't get to pick on him about it! We need to go back so I can insult him!"

"Blonde..."

With a loud clang the coated man pushed back from his table, the chair he was once occupying flying backwards,

"None of that matters to me. Do what you want and stop bugging me."

Before anyone could question Laxus's sudden behavior the thunder god was already out the door and stalking down the street, a distant, almost dream like memory from seven years prior haunting his mind, refusing to leave no matter how hard he tried to think of something else.

This was just a coincidence, surely. There was no way...

No.

He was being unrealistic.

He needed to forget about what happened during his teenage years. Their problems were of no concern to him.

But if that was true, why did he feel as though they were?

"Well..." Natsu huffed, breaking the quiet that had shocked the guild since the s class mage had left several minutes prior, "What's that idiot's problem?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>So, what do you guys think? Continue it or drop it?<strong>_

_**Oh, and for those of you that have also read my 'To Thaw a Frozen Heart' story, it too will be updated within the next few days, I'm nearly done with the latest chapter ^.^**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Fight for your pride

A series of curses flooded through the raven's head, countless comebacks and insults, however he couldn't manage to utter a single one of them, instead he took to staring at the dragon slayer as though he had somehow managed to grow another head.

A fight? Laxus was really challenging him to a fight? Everything was officially going to hell in a hand basket.

"So are you gonna respond or just stand there like an idiot the rest of the day?" The lightening mage scoffed, crossing his arms impatiently.

"Look, I never even said I was going to join Fairy Tail." The ice mage muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

He was met with a snicker.

"Just as I thought. You don't have the balls to face me. You're probably just another weak wizard wasting space in Magnolia. With the people Fairy Tail has been letting in even you would make the cut. It's pathetic."

Gray clenched his teeth, his anger building the more the other badmouthed Fairy Tail. What the hell did he really have against the guild anyway?

"Geez, what's your problem, man? That's your guild you are talking about."

"What's it to you? You said you didn't even want to join that crappy guild." The teen shook his head, "Tch, whatever. I don't have time for this."

With a final scoff the dragon slayer rolled his eyes and went to step forward, only to find that the floor before him was covered in ice, causing him to slip and lose his composure.

Gray barely managed to suppress a chuckle as Laxus slid on the ice he laid out for him and landed on his ass, a startled expression crossing his face because it was replaced by one of pure aggravation.

"What the hell is ice doing in the middle of summer?!"

The wigged teen whistled, pretending as though he was just as surprised as the other blonde,

"Good question. Pretty weird, right?" He asked, a sarcastic edge glazing his tone before he glanced up from the suspicious chunk of ice to instead meet hard black eyes,

"You're some type of ice wizard, aren't you?"

The raven merely grinned and shrugged,

"Nah, I'm just a weak wizard wasting space in Magnolia, like you said."

Wordlessly the natural blonde lifted himself back up from the ground and stepped closer to the ice mage, a royally pissed off look on his face,

"I'm going to kick your ass."

Oh shit.

Jumping to the side, Gray just barely managed to duck and evade a stray lightning bolt headed straight for his stomach. Instead he watched with interest as it slammed into the back of the alley he was just occupying, a loud explosion echoing throughout the town.

The ice mage hardly had any time to study the damage before he had to back up to evade another attack sent his way from the angered dragon slayer,

"Ice make, shield!"

A large barricade of ice immediately sprang up just in time to protect the raven from an electric powered punch.

"So you are an ice mage?" Laxus snickered, pulling his arm away before slamming it back again, watching in amusement as a thin crack appeared on the other male's sheild, "You're as frail as your ice."

"Don't underestimate me."

The raven frowned and slammed his palm and fist together, his barrier standing strong,

"Ice make: Crescent blades!"

Within seconds a barrage of crescent-shaped ice projectiles shot forward, taking the lightning slayer by slight surprise, however he managed to duck to the side in the nick of time, sustaining just a light rip in his shirt.

"The moment you underestimate a wizard you know nothing about is the moment you lose."

"You sure talk big for a wimp." Laxus sneered, "But you still have two minutes to go."

"I can take anything you can throw at me, sparky."

"We'll see about that."

Wasting not a second more the dragon slayer launched himself forward, his curled fist striking the ice block once more, this time managing to break through it.

"This is pathetic!"

The ice mage stepped back, his teeth clenching and arms coming up to block another hit directed at him,

"Seriously, what's your problem?!"

A faint 'umph' escaped the wigged boy as another kick was sent towards him, this time catching him off guard and sent him stumbling backwards.

"Weaklings like you that think you're strong enough to be a part of Fairy Tail while the members who actually belong are getting kicked out!" The younger electric user growled, static beginning to streak around him.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Nothing." A snicker came from the dragon slayer, "For a moment there I thought you were actually useful."

Unable to hold his frustration back any longer the devil slayer advanced forward, punching the other in the stomach before slamming him back against the alley wall,

"Shut up!"

Black and blue eyes met in a heated glare, neither willing to back down as the two blondes stood, only centimeters from one another.

This challenging manner remained until Gray, beginning to feel uncomfortable with their close proximity, finally gave in and looked away, backing up so there was now a reasonable distance between the two.

"I don't have time for this…" He muttered to himself, his arms crossing over his chest, inwardly relieved to feel fabric brushing against his arm as he did so. It seemed as though he managed to keep his clothes on this time.

"Giving up already?" Laxus scoffed before sighing lightly, "Whatever…"

The natural blonde paused for a moment before speaking up again,

"Not bad… You lasted five minutes… You're an asshole, but not too shabby of a fighter."

Gray rolled his eyes,

"I don't wanna hear that from you…"

"What was that, kid? Are you trying t-…"

The dragon slayer was suddenly cut off by a familiar female voice ringing through the street,

"Laxus?! Where are you?! The master wants you to come back to the guild!"

The stated man sighed, seemingly irritated to have been interrupted,

"Tell the old man that I'll come back when I want to come back!"

"Tch, you tell him that, I'm not your messenger!"

The voice was closer this time, leaving Gray to wonder who exactly it was before his question was answered by the appearance of a long white haired girl at the entrance of the alley way, a manipulative smirk on her face,

"What, you busy or something?"

"What's it to you?" The blonde rebutted, turning slightly to glare at the younger girl.

"Someone's irritat-…" The younger Mirajane paused for a moment, stretching her neck to the side to look past the lightning mage to instead study the raven, "Huh? Who's that?"

"What, him?" Laxus looked over at Gray with disinterest, "Just some low wizard that wants to join Fairy Tail."

"I never said I wanted to-…"

"You want to join our guild?" The snow haired girl questioned, her smirk only growing as she carelessly cut the ice mage off, "And you think battling Laxus here is gonna get you in?"

"No, that idiot started it."

"What was that?" The slayer growled before tching softly, seeming to not care enough to engage in another fight before h turned, beginning to leave the alley, "Whatever, do what you want, I'm going back to the guild."

"So you are intimidated by the master, blondie?" The young she-demon teased as she roughly roughly grabbed the ice mage by the wrist, yanking him along with Laxus and herself.

"H-hey!" Gray protested, sending Mira an uncertain look as she dragged him along, "What are you doing?"

"Well, you said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?"

"No, I never said I-…"

"Of course you do." The she demon cut off, answering her own question for him, "Who wouldn't want to join our guild."

"No, I don't want to join Fairy Tail."

"Hmm?" The white haired teen glanced over her shoulder in slight interest at the other's response, "Then are you an enemy of ours?"

"No, I'm not an enemy either…"

"Do you have a guild?"

"Well… no… not now…"

"Then you're coming with us."

The small hand wrapped around the raven's pale wrist only tightened, signifying that she was not letting the wigged male leave until they got to Fairy Tail.

With a final groan Gray resigned himself to his fate and ceased the little resistance he had against the female, inwardly deciding that today was indeed going to be a long day.

**Well, here's the second chapter ^.^ I know this one is a little on the short side but that's because I wanted to get through the fight scene, which was probably bad, I suck at writing those things. But anyway, hopefully Mira wasn't too OOC and you'll get to see the guild and it's madness in the next chapter as well as a bit more positive interaction between the two boys.**

**Thank you everyone for reviewing/favoriting/following. I wasn't certain how well some people would take this crack pairing, so I'm glad to find some others like it too :D. Now it's one of my favorites. **


	3. Chapter 3: Reminiscing days gone by

The first thing that Gray noticed when he entered the guild was how unbearably loud and rowdy it was. For a moment he even felt back at home, in his present time, however that fleeting feeling fell as swiftly as it came, for as he glanced around the room he was saddened to find all the faces surrounding him to be far younger than what he was used to.

The second thing that managed to catch his attention was Mira, who was still in front of him, suddenly ducking and a chair soaring over her head, now headed straight towards him.

He didn't even have a moment to process the threat before he was sent crashing onto his butt by the piece of furniture, which slammed painfully right into his face.

"Watch out." Mira helpfully warned, laughing at the raven's misfortune.

"Ow! What the hell?!" He gripped his nose, which seemed to have taken the blunt of the impact, and glared at the she devil, who was now looking at him in amusement, "Why the hell didn't you warn me?!"

"Oh? I'm sorry." She feigned, an evil smirk marring her pretty face as she folded her arms over her chest, "I said watch out."

"Yeah, after the chair hit me!"

She gave him a slight shrug before turning and walking away from him,

"Consider it a welcome present."

Gray sent the preteen an annoyed look before pulling himself off the ground and glanced around, not entirely surprised to find almost everyone in the guild, who had just moments ago been fighting, now looking at him curiously.

"Uh…"

He muttered, his anger quickly shifting to discomfort under everyone's heavy gaze,

"Yo…?"  
>"Who are you?" A voice called, seeming to originate from the middle of the group of now still mages, "You a new member of Fairy Tail or something?"<p>

"Something like that…"

A few cries of protest rumbled through the huddle of wizards as a small figure seemed to work their way through, only stopping once he was finally standing in the front, facing the wigged teen.

"You dented my favorite chair!" The young Natsu grumbled, walking over to look down at the metal chair, which now harvested a sizable dent from where it met with the ice mage's face, "What's the big idea?!"  
>"If you don't want it to break than maybe you shouldn't be throwing it around everywhere!"<p>

Gray's eyebrow twitched as he narrowed his blue eyes at the pinkette, slightly amused to see his lifelong rival so small.

"Don't tell me what to do, moron."

"Don't cal-…"

"Who are you?" Natsu repeated, carelessly cutting the raven off, his attention now diverging from the useless object as his concern for it seemed to disappear.

Honestly, why did he have to be so god damn irritating?

"I'm… Just a passing wizard…"

"Then what are you doing in Fairy Tail?"

"Nothing, I'm just leaving."  
>The raven turned to face the door, fully prepared to leave when he felt his wrist being gripped once more before he was yanked backwards by a surprisingly strong force,<p>

"Oh no he's not." Mira reprimanded, the wicked smile still on her face, "He's Laxus's friend."  
>"I am not-…"<p>

"You're Laxus's friend?" The fire dragon slayer interrupted again, visibly surprised by that information, "That joy kill has friends?"

"No, I'm-…"

"Yep!" The white haired girl chirped, "He was just outside fighting Laxus before he told me he wanted to join Fairy Tail."

"I never-…"

"You want to join our guild, boy?"

Taken by surprise by the new voice, Gray whirled around to find the master now standing beside him with Laxus not far behind. He guessed that the lightning mage had been the one to inform gramps that he had arrived.

"N-…"

"Yes." Both Natsu and Mira answered, causing the ice mage to groan in both agitation and wariness. Was he this annoying when he was younger too?

"I see…" Makarov muttered, clamping his hands behind him as he stepped closer to the teenager; his face calculating and calm, "And what is your name, ma boy?"

"My name is G… Cyan (1)…" He quickly corrected himself.

"GCyan, huh? I don't believe I've heard that name before." The elder man lightly teased, a smile on his face as he regarded the unnatural blonde, "My name is Makarov and I'm the master of this guild."  
>The raven nodded slightly, already well aware of this, however he kept that to himself.<p>

"It's… Uh... Nice to meet you…"

It was the old man's turn to nod this time,

"Indeed. Likewise, Cyan. Now, you wish to join our guild?"

Gray paused for a moment, uncertain,

"Maybe…"

"Come now, my boy, it is a simple yes or no question. You are welcome to join if you want."

"I'm not sure…"

Uncomfortably, Gray looked around the guild, somewhat displeased to find all eyes were on him. Really, didn't the guild have anything better to do than watch some stranger…?

…

No… They didn't… No one in the guild ever seemed to be doing anything significant. If he was in their situation he figured he would do the same thing.

"He dented my chair. I don't like him." The pinkette muttered, crossing his small arms over his chest as he walked over to stand beside the master, his large green eyes glaring at the male in question. For one reason or another the stranger seemed to annoy him, almost as much as a certain raven haired comrade of his.

"You're the one who threw the damn thing at me." Gray grumbled, matching the young boy's glare with one of his own.

"Then you should have dodged it."

"How the hell was I supposed to know a chair was going to hit me in the face the moment I walked in?!"

"I dunno… You're stupid…"

"No, you are."

Pausing, the ice mage suppressed the urge to slam his face into his palm as he realized just what he was doing and saying.

He was fighting with an eight year old. Him, an eighteen year old man was feuding with a child like he was kid…

He needed a drink after this.

"Enough you two."

Both boys immediately stilled at the master's orders and fell silent, knowing better than to press on with their quarrels.

"How many times have I told you not to throw things at new members, brat?" Makarov scolded gruffly, his hand none too lightly coming down on the pink haired boy's head, causing him to wince.

"Sorry Gramps…" The dragon slayer apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Sighing, the elder man seemed to accept the halfhearted apology, his attention diverting to instead focus back on the blonde,

"I apologize for the rude greeting you received, but as I'm sure you've realized the guild is quite the lively bunch."

To Gray that was as obvious and routine as day. Staring at the short male who now looked at him as though he had no idea who he was caused the pain he felt in his heart to heighten as he was once more reminded that no one here even knew who he was. Here he wasn't Gray Fullbuster, the bratty and childish ice mage. Now he was a stranger whose magic was unknown and who may or may not be joining the guild.

"Nah, its fine… Couldn't expect anything less from Fiore's strongest guild, after all."

"How right you are." Smiling slightly, the master folded his hands behind his back, "So, what will it be? Will you join?"

The raven could feel several eyes boring into him, no doubt waiting for his response, however he just stilled, uncertain as to what he should do.

On one hand he would prefer to rejoin the guild under disguise as he attempted to figure out how to get back to his time. Sure he knew none of them would be able to assist him with his problem, but just knowing that he was surrounded by somewhat familiar faces comforted the boy. That way he wouldn't be completely alone.

But, on the other, remaining about people from his past was a liability. If he stayed here and joined the guild again he would be forced to watch every single thing he did, least he slip up and cause suspicion about him to arise.

He felt as though he was stuck between a rock and a hard space with no way to escape unscathed.

"I…" He hesitated for a moment before subtly taking a deep breath, "Yeah… I'll join…"

Immediately a smile appeared on the master's face, looking to be pleased by the stranger's response.

"Great. Welcome to the guild then, Cyan. Now, the next step is getting your guild mark to show that you are an official member."

The elder man reached into his pocket, digging around in it for several moments before finally pulling a small oval shaped object out,

"Where would you like it?"

Gray's stomach dropped.

Shit, shit, shit, how the hell could he forget about the guild stamp? Shit, how was he going to explain the one he already had on his chest?

That would certainly cause questions to arise and the ice mage would have no realistic answers to them.

Crap, he made a horrible decision.

All because he couldn't bear the thought of being alone again.

"Uh… Well… Can I, I mean, I want to put it on my chest and all, but I'm a little… modest…" It took all his strength not to burst out into laughter. Him, Fairy Tail's stripper who hardly ever even wore clothes was pretending to be modest. Even he found the irony in that to be too humorous, "So… Can I put it on myself…?"

Thankfully for the raven the majority of the patrons in Fairy Tail had turned their attention away from the new member upon hearing his response so now only Mira, Laxus, the master and Natsu were around to witness the sputtering male.

"A rather strange request…" The master noted, a suspicious look crossing his face before he smiled once more at the new member, "but I do not see why not."

Releasing a breath the demon slayer wasn't even aware he was holding, he smiled slightly back at the guild master, relieved to find that one crisis had been avoided.

Now he had had to figure out how to deal with the dozens others hovering over him like a dark cloud.

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It was now well into the evening and Magnolia was all but devoid of life, save for a few drunks traveling around here or there with no real destination.

However the growing hour did nothing to deter a certain lightning mage from leaving his hunched position at a bar not too far from the guild, his mind as muddled and dark as the beer in front of him. The fourth one that night.

Ever since he had stormed out of the guild a few hours prior he had walked around aimlessly for a while, trying to work out all the thoughts and questions whirling through his mind before he finally stopped at a bar, hoping that he could drink himself into forgetting it all.

Unfortunately it seemed as though the alcohol had the opposite effect. Now he couldn't think of anything but a wild head of blonde hair and a white hand band that tried (and promptly failed) to hold it all at bay.

He couldn't forget the dark blue eyes that seemed to know so many years of hardships yet still shined with life.

He had never noticed it before, but, thinking back on it now, he supposed those blue eyes were a lot like Gray's…

A loud groan escaped the thunder god as he roughly pushed his head into his hands at the thought, drawing the attention of the few individuals still present, although he couldn't bring himself to care.

Gray… No, there was no way he had anything to do with the past… This was all just one giant ass coincidence… It had to be…

The ice boy he knew long ago was dead. There was nothing more to it. That brat from the guild couldn't be _him_… After all, he had midnight blue hair, not striking blond hair like _him_…

_Gray was a blonde today…_

The idiot Natsu's words kept resounding in the slayer's ears, regardless of how hard he attempted to ignore them.

As much as Laxus wanted to deny it, the facts were as plain as day.

Gray was an ice mage, had a blue guild symbol on his chest and harvested dull blue eyes just like that man did seven years ago…

Who also just so happened to have been sent back seven years and was last seen sporting a blonde wig to use as a disguise…

Lastly, the hardest thing to ignore, was the black tattoo that now painted the raven's shoulder was similar to that of his past friend's unique marking.

_Too _similar.

Frowning, Laxus ran a hand through his own blonde locks, the other one already signaling to the waiter to bring another drink over.

He couldn't think about this, not now.

Instead he would find out more about Gray and his past. Only then would he know for sure if his concerns were correct.

Until then he would drink his problems away, because that was a good idea.

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"Are you stupid?"

Gray's eyebrow twitched in irritation as he once again glanced over at the pinkette who was leaning on the table beside him, his green eyes staring at him curiously.

"The hell kind of question is that?" He growled, his fingers beginning to dig absentmindedly into the wooden table at the pinkette's continuous questions.

"Well, you got your guild mark on your chest." Natsu explained, his finger none too lightly prodding the right side of the male's chest, "And only idiots get theirs there, like the ice block."

Snickering, the raven settled with rolling his eyes and grumbling under his breath,

"I didn't ask for your opinion, idiot."

"Did too."  
>"Did not."<p>

"Did too."

The blonde sighed in exasperation.

"Geez, don't you have anything better to do than be annoying?"

"Nope!"

God he forgot how annoying the moron was when he was younger.

"So, what's your magic anyway?"

"Huh?"

"I said what's your magic. What, you deaf or something old man?"

"I'm not much older than you are, ya know…" The raven grumbled, his gaze drifting to glance around the guild, "As for my magic, that's none of your business, kid."

"Hmph… Why are you so grumpy? You're boring." The young fire mage complained, his chin coming down to rest on the table in front of him.

"Well I didn't join just to entertain you."

"I know, stupid. You joined 'cause you're Laxus's friend."

"You're the stupid one here, flamebrain, I told you, I'm not that bastard's friend." Gray snapped, his magic tingling on the tips of his fingers as he fought the urge to freeze the pink haired moron's lips shut.

"Flamebrain?" Natsu repeated, his head lifting off the table in surprise, "No one but the ice bastard has called me that before."

Shit.

The raven's blue eyes widened slightly at his mistake before he forced a calm look back onto his pale face, instead opting to just shrug nonchalantly,

"Well you're a fire mage, aren't ya? Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to come up with that nickname."

Thankfully, Natsu being the idiot he was, seemed to accept the explanation and returned his chin on the table, taking to groaning in audible compliant,

"I'm still borrreeeddd… Fight me!"

Gray sweatdropped.

"I'm not fighting you."

"Come on, don't be a scaredy cat! I promise I won't beat you up too bad!"

"Shut up."  
>"No, fight me!"<br>"Will you shut it already, kid? All your yapping is giving me a headache and I just came into the room." Laxus barked, from the entrance of the guild hall, his usual annoyed expression etched onto his face.

"Then you fight me, sparky!"  
>"In your dreams, pinkie. I only came in here to get the new member."<br>This managed to catch the raven's attention,

"Huh? How come?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm not a damn physic. Just come on."  
>Not allowing Gray to refuse the demand, the lightning dragon slayer disappeared back down the hallway he came from, no doubt expecting the ice mage to follow.<p>

"Geez, what crawled up his ass…?" Gray sneered but got up nonetheless, ignoring the kid's pestering as he followed the other teen through the long back hallway.

Glancing around, the raven allowed a slight smile to slip past his lips as he admired the familiar structure of their old guild hall. Sure the walls were a little worn down and different spots of it were different colors due to attempting to fill in holes created by fighting mages, but it was what the ice mage grew up with.

It was normal; it was home.

Smiling more, the ice devil slayer gently ran his fingers against the familiar surface, stifling a small laugh as they glided over one particular mismatched yellowish spot, remembering how he and Natsu had caused a giant hole right there when they fought over who got the last piece of birthday cake, only for Erza to end up eating it while they were beating one another senseless.

He kinda missed the way the guild used to be before the renovations and new members.

"What the hell are you smiling about? You got a thing for walls or something?"

Tearing his thoughts away from the past, the wigged male turned to blink owlishly at the other blonde who was staring at him as though he had gone insane.

For all intents and purposes he probably had. Why else would he be doing something so risky and utterly insane?

"What…? No… I mean… I was just wondering what cased this stain here…"

"That?" Walking over to stand beside the other male, Laxus leaned over to study the darker, yellowish circle of white before snickering softly and turning away, "Probably those moronic brat's doing. You met one of them when you came in, the pink haired one named Natsu. The other one isn't here right now; think he's on a mission or something with another kid named Cana. He's an ice mage like you."

Gray couldn't help but feel relieved at the fact that he didn't have to worry about running into himself quite yet. He couldn't imagine how awkward that would be.

"Oh…"

Wordlessly the two took to going down the long, lighted hallway, only stopping once they got to an opened room.

"Gramp's is in there." Laxus informed gruffly before stepping into the room with Gray on his heels.

"Oh good, you did get him. I thought you might have just gotten up and left again." Makarov joked gently as he watched the two boys enter the room.

"Yeah, well if I did you would just send Mira to hunt me down again…" The head phoned teen grumbled, his arms crossing as he plopped down on a chair in front of the elder's desk, leaving Gray to sit in the other.

"Indeed I would. However, that is not what I wished to talk to the two of you about."

Clearing his throat, the old man folded his hands and rested them on the messy, damage charges filled papers and trained his aged eyes on the teens sitting before him,

"It's getting late and, seeing as you are new here, I was wondering if you had a place to stay."

"Uh…" In all the ruckus and chaos Gray had forgotten to reserve a hotel for the night, "Well, no, but-…"

"Great, then you can stay with Laxus and I."

"…."

The raven stared at the guild master as though he had just grown another head.

"…What?"

"Well, as you said you have no place to go, and this way we can see to it that you get settled into Fairy Tail. After all, Laxus will be going with you on your first mission to ensure you return safety, so you two may as well get acquainted."

"No way, old man, you know I only work alone or with my team. There is no way in hell I'm taking this newbie here on a mission."

"Yeah, I'll pass." Gray assured, the prospect of taking on a mission with the grumpy young thunder god not appealing to him in the slightest, "I can handle one on my own."

"Perhaps you can, however I have not been able to determine your skill level as of yet so until then you will be partnering up with this brat over here. Besides, you spend too much time with the little kids, Laxus, it'd do you well to hang out with someone else your age.

"Not my fault I get stuck with babysitting almost every damn day…" The dragon slayer growled, his eyes narrowing at his grandfather.

Ignoring the blonde's complaint, Makarov turned to face only Gray, a smile on his wrinkled face, "Welcome to the guild, my boy. Now we're family."  
><em>Family…<em>

That word seemed to strike a nerve in the raven.

They were still his family….

"Alright…" He sighed, rolling his eyes, "Thanks, I guess…"  
>After all, living with Laxus couldn't be that bad… Right?<p>

Oh, if only he knew the half of it.

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**And that is the end of chapter 3****J**

**(1)**

**Okay, I just wanted to explain this real quick. It took me forever to find a name that would suit Gray that wasn't Silver or something too common like John or something. Because of that I decided to stick with the color theme that his family seems to have for the guys? Anyway, I found the name Cyan and liked that one better than Rusty, white or black. :P Yeah, I know it sounds a little stupid, but bear with me.**

**Also, sorry for the late update, I actually finished this chapter a few days ago, but it took a little while for me to get around to rereading and editing it, so it took longer than I had expected. I've also been distracted with my story Weighted Hearts, which I will be updating soon as well. **

**That aside, thank you to everyone for reviewing, following and favoriting. It really motivates me. :D.**

**I hope you enjoyed. Until next time.**

**~BeautifulWonderland. **


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